Litigation not solution to water problems
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Editor,
There will be a ballot coming in the mail soon asking the irrigators to vote for or against the water use agreement. Get informed with factual information so you can understand the consequences of a yes or a no vote. The fate of entire compact rides on this vote.
My family has been farming in the Mission Valley for 75 years. I spent many years as a member of the irrigation board. During my time on the board, I came to know the board members as full-time farmers and ranchers, forward in their thinking. The board had worked on the project transfer for many years, but it wasn’t until we became serious about partnering with the CSKT that we were able to make progress. After seven years of negotiation, the project transferred to local control. By any measure, the transfer has been an outstanding success.
What is being proposed in the water use agreement and the compact has the same ingredients for success. It is a partnership of all the people of this area pulling together to create a good future for agriculture and all residents of the reservation. Don’t be deceived by the doomsday-ers. The WUA and compact provide a secure right for irrigation water, in many cases more than what has been available in the past. The doomsday-ers are somehow trying to convince people that paying tens of millions in attorney fees is somehow better than receiving tens of millions from the state and federal government to rehabilitate the Flathead Irrigation Project. We don’t need to be paying attorneys. We need to be fixing the irrigation project.
There are a few things that I wish were a little different, but I would vote to approve it to avoid the 1,500-pound gorilla called litigation. Can anyone honestly believe litigation is the answer?
A few words of wisdom: “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Life is not fair so you might as well get used to it.”
Roy Lake
Ronan
